Vista to sell four properties

Four government-owned properties on or near busy Vista streets are on the road to changing hands, after the City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve selling the land to private buyers.

Councilwoman Amanda Rigby cast the sole “no” vote, saying the city might get more for the properties if it waited for the real-estate market to further rebound.

“I think we could do a little bit better if we held on to them,” she said.

One of the properties, at 635 S. Santa Fe Avenue, is owned by the city’s now defunct redevelopment agency, which dissolved after the state abolished such agencies in 2011.

The empty building, topped by a billboard, is within an area mapped out for the city’s Paseo Santa Fe project, which will transform a stretch of the thoroughfare into a two-lane pedestrian friendly street lined by shops and businesses, with living spaces above.

Attorney Erubey Lopez, who is planning to buy the 1,440-square front storefront from the city, said he’ll move his immigration and public interest law practice to the site.

He said he may also use a portion of the building to serve the community, perhaps by providing meeting space and a continuation of the music lessons offered after hours at his current office, on North Santa Fe and West Connecticut Avenue.

A longtime Vista resident, Lopez said he’s excited about the Paseo Santa Fe project. He said he plans to redo the building’s facade at some point.

“We really want to make sure that area looks good,” said Lopez, a former member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission.

The city’s redevelopment agency purchased the parcel for $310,000 five years ago as part of its long-term plan for Paseo Santa Fe. Recently marketed by a brokerage firm for a list price of $237,000, it will sell to Lopez for $207,000 if the deal is approved.

The billboard atop the building brought in $45,000 in lease payments in the years the city owned it. The value of the property dropped a bit because the billboard will be taken down when the lease runs out in 2016, according to the city staff report.

The other three pieces of land the city agreed to sell are on or near North Santa Fe Avenue. All three sites were bought in the early 1990s as part of right-of-way acquisitions to widen the thoroughfare.

One of the sites is at 1550 N. Santa Fe Ave., a little north of West Bobier Drive. The agreed-upon sale price is $68,000.

The other two sites are empty lots at 102 and 103 Buna Place. The two lots, sold together to one buyer for a total of $80,000, are along North Santa Fe, just north of Townsite Drive.

The $148,000 from the three properties will go into the city’s general fund.